Buffalo Chicken Macaron and Cheese

I'm a hot mess in the kitchen. No joke. I can cook anything, anytime. However, I'm messy. My mom can't watch me cook without gasping about the gigantic mess I've made at least three times. She's right though, I'm a spiller. I splatter. The hand mixer becomes a weapon of mess destruction in my hands. Some how, the mess becomes a meal. I've discovered casseroles. Any meal baked in a dish with any kind of meat/noodle/veggie/cheese combo was strictly forbidden in my growing up home. Now that I am a single (for the next 46 weeks anyhow) parent, casseroles work nicely since it makes a lot and I can skip making a huge mess for at least two more nights with leftovers!

Not all of the ingredients to make Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Chicken, celery, onions and garlic with the Frank's Red Hot Sauce on top...simmering

Amazing how butter, flour and dry mustard along with 2.5 cups of half and half and 4 cups of cheese along with another half cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce can become the most amazing cheese sauce in the universe! Whenever I make a roux or bechamel, I always think first of my mom then of my great grandmother. I just feel like doing things the old fashioned way, instead of opening a can or bag puts a little extra lovin' in the dish you prepare. While I wear my cupcake apron (thanks Mom!) and whisk together that flour and butter, I feel like Donna Reed. My supposed chosen profession's unattainable ideal.

L to R, Top to Bottom:

My laptop, necessary for reading recipe! The cheese sauce. Then the chicken mixture and then the pan with macaroni and half of the chicken mixture. The lap top for recipes is awesome.

The pan, with the rest of the chicken and macaroni and cheese sauce poured on top. You can not imagine the amazing sounds macaroni makes when you pour thick creamy cheese sauce on top. Somewhere between angels blowing kisses and hundreds of delicious cheese bubbles sacrificing their very lives for your tastebuds!

With the butter and bread crumb topping. Of course. I think this recipe has seven tablespoons of butter, which is why you share it with friends!

What Food Network recipes can do to a perfectly clean kitchen in just two hours. Amazingly, my kitchen is clean again!


All baked and ready to eat!

My favorite thing to do is serve it up with blue cheese crumbles and a little more hot sauce! Everyone (five adults) had seconds, along with the two toddlers having one serving each and there are still leftovers!

It's so incredible. It's a TON of work, but I it is totally worth it!

Here is the recipe, if you want it.

Buffalo Chicken Mac N Cheese

And, of course this blog wouldn't be complete without a picture of Emmie:


Emmie wanted to "wear" her baby, so my friend Nicole folded her MobyWrap in half length wise and wrapped her up with her baby. Talk about precious! :)

Parade

The Whaling Days parade in our town is pretty docile...but when you add in a two year old, along with probably four pieces of parade candy...this is what you get:

Bummed the Navy band passed...

But wait, she hears music...

Is that an itch?

no...


It's a fever!


A dance fever!


I am not sure who taught her how to break dance...

but this chick can move!

She absolutely KILLS me. I love it. She loves parades, we go to every single one we can find within a decent driving distance. She does it up right, waving and shaking hands. It's awesome.

Getting Crafty!

First allow me to paint you a picture! Yay! You like pictures! Pictures make you happy, they tell stories and make things prettier. People buy pictures, take picture and use pictures to decorate their homes! Wheeeeee, pictures!

Having a two and a half year old is much like trying to put a leotard on a Tasmanian devil while your hands are covered in oven mitts that have been olive oiled.

Now, pretend you want to photograph said creature. You grab your camera. (Crap, you forgot to put the SD card in. Grab that out of your laptop and commence.) Take the lens cap off, get the settings correct and *click.* Review the screen, wait. Where is your Tasmanian Devil daughter? Okay. Reset. Coerce the darling thing back to the "set" and ask her to "Look at mommy's camera! Isn't it neat! Watch what's going to happen! I'm gonna take your picture!" *click* Oh great, her eyes are closed. Reset.

Picture painted? Yes. It's hard to take great photos of a two year old, but when you can capture your daughter in the sweetest of times it makes for great and amazing photographs you cherish forever. What? You want to see them? Oh, okay!